Hockey Players Labor Relations

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had a curious reply when asked why he and Bob Goodenow, head of the players association, hadn't talked between Wednesday and a session scheduled for Monday in Toronto. "Bob Goodenow told me he had to be in Las Vegas over the weekend and wasn't available to meet," Bettman said. Sounded like Goodenow was on a gambling junket or attending a Flying Elvises convention. Hardly.

The Mighty Ducks have exercised their option on goalie Steve Shields, one of two players the team acquired from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Teemu Selanne last March. The $2-million option could make re-signing restricted free agent Jean-Sebastien Giguere more difficult. Giguere, the Ducks' No. 1 goalie after being recalled from minor league Cincinnati in January, made $605,00 last season, Shields, 28, started the season as the Sharks' No.

On the surface, it was like any other day for the Kings at their Culver City practice rink. The shiny new cars pulled up, the athletes got out, and the young autograph hounds surged forward. The players signed pucks, posters and pennants before disappearing inside to attend to business. But Wednesday, it was hardly business as usual. They found their training room closed, their equipment locked away. No matter. They weren't there to skate, but to deliberate.

Negotiations with Jozef Stumpel, believed near completion early Friday, instead fell apart later in the day when a Kings-imposed deadline came and went without an agreement. The Kings refused comment, but a source close to the talks said that a proposal made by the team Thursday was close to acceptance, with only modifications in bonus arrangements being sought by Stumpel's agent, Benji Robins.

OK, now, where were we? Hockey. Right. We were getting ready to watch hockey. The sport that's played on ice. Or kept on ice. One or the other, I seem to recall. Hockey. Hockey openers. "The 1994-95 National Hockey League gets under way this week." Remember that one? Way back in late September, when a 1994-95 National Hockey League season remained a possibility? Instead of what we have now--the 1995-95 National Hockey League season ? Think back to where we were all those weeks ago.

Not every member of the NHL's Board of Governors believes the league must set a deadline at its meeting today to caution players that time is running out to salvage the season. "I don't know if you have to put up a traffic signal. We all know if this thing isn't done by the 27th or 28th of December, church is out," said Peter Pocklington, owner of the Edmonton Oilers.

For the National Hockey League, this is the season of living dangerously. As of today, when the NHL begins its 75th season, it is the season of living without a national television contract in place. It is the season of living without a new collective bargaining agreement. And it is the season of living without Eric Lindros. Negotiations dragged on through summer on all three fronts.

Negotiations with Jozef Stumpel, believed near completion early Friday, instead fell apart later in the day when a Kings-imposed deadline came and went without an agreement. The Kings refused comment, but a source close to the talks said that a proposal made by the team Thursday was close to acceptance, with only modifications in bonus arrangements being sought by Stumpel's agent, Benji Robins.

Defenseman Aki Berg is close to re-signing with the Kings, mostly because he's resigned to his NHL fate. Veterans Glen Murray and Mattias Norstrom have similar fates, but so far there is no resignation. The three are still in negotiations with the Kings, and all are expected to sign, with Berg probably set for training camp Sunday. The negotiations for Murray and Norstrom might take longer. And when they all return to the ice, there will be someone new to talk about them.

Wayne Gretzky did not receive a contract extension Tuesday after his agent and lawyer held a three-hour meeting at the Forum with King management and a representative of the owners. There were no promises to immediately acquire a 50-goal scorer, or an offensive defenseman or any player, for that matter. Reports from the much-anticipated meeting were decidedly lacking in specifics.

The only change so far is in the embroidery, a change that recalls a happier time, when Rob Blake was captain of the Kings. Blake hasn't been traded. He doesn't want to be, and Dave Taylor, the Kings' senior vice president and general manager, says the team doesn't want to trade him. Blake is still under contract with the Kings. For one more season. And then?

The hottest goaltender in North America won't be in Buffalo when the NHL playoffs begin today. He won't be in Detroit or New Jersey or Denver. The hottest goaltender in North America won't be on any of the old, familiar rinks, a fact that led Phoenix Coyote owner Richard Burke to Nikolai Khabibulin's doorstep in the days before last month's trading deadline, according to a high-ranking NHL official.

Defenseman Aki Berg is close to re-signing with the Kings, mostly because he's resigned to his NHL fate. Veterans Glen Murray and Mattias Norstrom have similar fates, but so far there is no resignation. The three are still in negotiations with the Kings, and all are expected to sign, with Berg probably set for training camp Sunday. The negotiations for Murray and Norstrom might take longer. And when they all return to the ice, there will be someone new to talk about them.

Unsigned free agent Paul Kariya has become so upset over his contract stalemate with the Mighty Ducks he is "bleeding" and considering playing in Europe, teammate Teemu Selanne said Tuesday. "I'm so, so, so worried," Selanne said. "I know Paul and I know it's going to come to a point when he's going to say, 'I don't care about the money. I'm not going to play with those guys. I'd rather retire or play in Europe for the rest of my life.'

Disney had a free-agent signing to announce Sunday. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with the Mighty Ducks. The Angels locked up pitcher Ken Hill for three years with an option for a fourth. If he pitches the way he did in September and Chuck Finley pitches the way he did in July, the Angels have a great one-two punch in their rotation. It's amazing what gets accomplished when two sides want to make something happen. Hill and his wife decided they wanted to stick with the Angels.

It should be Paul Kariya on the ice against Eric Lindros at the Pond tonight. It should be Paul Kariya and Eric Lindros coming up in the context of that most basic and yet best of sports debates--"Who's better?"--and these are two of the best. But Kariya won't be at the Pond. He won't even be in the country. And now his only link to Lindros comes in a long-distance salary dance that isn't entertaining at all.

Divided about their final attempt to save the season, the NHL's Board of Governors on Saturday rejected a contract proposal by the players' union and made a counteroffer that players must accept by noon EST Tuesday or the season will be canceled. The governors voted, 19-7, to reject the proposal players made Wednesday. The Kings were among the seven, but then they unsuccessfully tried to change their vote. The Mighty Ducks were among the majority.

If taxation without representation is tyranny--as famed union leader James Otis first noted during the 1763-64 season--what, then, is no taxation without unrestricted free agency before the age of 32? "Our best offer," was what NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman called it Saturday night in New York, having dispatched the owners' latest counter-counter-counter-prososal to the players with love, kisses, best wishes and a drop-dead deadline of noon Tuesday (EST).

Tony Tavares, Mighty Duck president, would neither confirm nor deny Monday night that Walt Disney Co. chairman Michael Eisner angered unsigned free agent Paul Kariya by making a take-it-or-leave-it offer last month. "I have not heard of any ultimatums and I think I would be aware of an ultimatum," Tavares said before the Ducks' 3-0 loss to the Boston Bruins at the Pond. "They have met only once. [But] I don't know every conversation Michael Eisner and Paul Kariya have had."

Team president Tony Tavares on Monday clarified the Ducks' removal of Paul Kariya-related merchandise from the Pond team store. Tavares said the merchandise was pulled from the team store during the exhibition season to make room for new items. He said the merchandise was back on the shelves in time for Friday's home-opening game against the Ottawa Senators. A quick check of the team store Monday showed several action photos of Kariya and one style of a T-shirt with his likeness on it for sale.